Volkswagen Sedric Concept: From "Das Auto" to "Das Automation"?

The VW Group unveils a full Level 5 autonomous concept for the future.

Could Volkswagen one day change its signature slogan from “Das Auto” to “Das Automation”? The German automaker unveiled its first fully autonomous concept car at the Geneva auto show. Its name is Sedric, an amalgamation of “self-driving car.” The squat and square all-electric vehicle promises to remove human beings from the driving process completely.

Details behind that promise remain fuzzy. Although the concept was created as part of a broader strategy to catapult Volkwagen beyond its diesel-cheating scandal by 2025, there’s no defined timeline for when a production version of the Sedric—or something like it—will arrive.

Whenever that day comes, Volkswagen says it anticipates that the four-seater will be sold to both private individuals and ride-hailing services. Last May, the company made a $300 million investment in the ride-hailing service Gett, a rival to Uber and Lyft that has worldwide operations and is most popular in Europe. More recently, Volkswagen created its own subsidiary in December, called Moia, from which the company intends to roll out innovations based on ride-hailing apps.

The Sedric may eventually spawn its own vehicular offspring. It is the “father” of numerous concepts of new mobility, Volkswagen officials said in a press release, that eventually will bring forth “children” and “grandchildren.” Whether they’ll all resemble animated kitchen appliances remains to be seen; maybe the ones made to appeal to private customers will be designed for more eye appeal.

The Sedric houses its battery pack in the floor and mounts an electric motor at wheel level, so it’s just a box-shaped lounge inside. Controls don’t include a steering wheel or pedals, just a button to summon the car; occupants can communicate their destination and other desires via voice command or a phone app. The windshield is actually an OLED screen that displays augmented-reality images and serves as an entertainment and communication center.

What’s most interesting about the concept is the bold bet on reaching the highest level of autonomy, known in the auto industry as Level 5 automation, without any interim stops at other levels of automation such as Level 4, in which drivers could snooze without the expectation that a car might try to hand back control but might be restricted to predefined routes. Level 5 vehicles, by definition, can operate without human input on any roads under any conditions.

While it’s unclear what Volkswagen’s time frame is for delivering this Level 5 vehicle, Waymo, one of the front-runners in the race to deploy autonomous vehicles on a widespread basis, has already tested one. Back in October 2015, when Waymo was still known as the Google self-driving-car project, its engineers tested a Level 5 vehicle in Austin, Texas, sending a regular citizen on a trip in a vehicle without a steering wheel or a gas pedal.

Sedric, which bears some resemblance to the Fiat Chrysler Portal concept shown at CES in January, was designed and constructed with help across Volkswagen’s sprawling empire, with the most prominent roles going to the Future Center Europe group in Potsdam and Volkswagen Group Research in Wolfsburg.